Non-moving Digital Media is right around the corner. Once viable, the only
issues will most likely be wear of the contacts, but...the file can be
moved to another storage device. The market is moving to another state of
flux, with a standardized format yet to be chosen (or quite possibly, yet
to be developed). Rest assured, DVD is a great transitional medium, but it
is not the "beat-all-ends-all", due to it's fragility, and it's
inadaptability to real-world scenarios.

The next couple of years is guaranteed to be very interesting in this
market. If you are dealing with materials that are for a classroom setting,
you should be considering a digital delivery of your wares. "Whirligigs"
and spinning formats are well on their way, similar to 16mm, to that big
library archive in the sky.

>At Western Washington University's Wilson Library we have been adding DVDs>to our collection for the last couple of years. Initially we had hoped to>eventually migrate our VHS collection to DVD - misguidedly believing>that disks would be less vulnerable to damage than VHS tapes. Now I'm no>longer sure this is reasonable direction.>>Our video collection is on open shelves and parts if it, especially the>feature films, circulate quite heavily. The titles we've accquired on DVD>have been much more problematic than we had hoped. The big issue seems to>be the manner in which library users handle (or mishandle??) them.>Fingerprinting and scratches are epidemic and increasingly users are>complaining about the frequency with which they are unable to watch DVDs>checked out from our collection because of this.>>After using some over the counter solutions including Disk Doctor with>moderately reasonable results. In the last several months we've begun>sending the disks to a business in our region that resurfaces them for a>few bucks per. They do a great job with very fast turnaround time but my>main concern is the frustration that the format is causing our users.>>Have any of you given up on DVDs and gone back the accquiring VHS whenever>there is an option? How are others dealing with these issues? We have>begun putting a sheet for reporting trouble with a disk in DVD cases>hoping that users will communicate their problems to us in a more orderly>and coherent fashion (rather than a ticked off "Doesn't work!" relayed>through a student employee). But, we've done this for a couple of years>with our VHS tapes and mostly users don't complete the form when they do>have trouble.>>Any suggestions or insights would be appreciated.>>Frank Haulgren>ILL / Media & Microforms / Document Delivery>Wilson Library>Western Washington University>Bellingham, WA 98225-9103>/^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^\>e-mail haulgren@cc.wwu.edu>Phone 360-650-7641 FAX 360-650-7397>ARIEL 140.160.178.79

Non-moving Digital Media is right around the corner. Once viable, the
only issues will most likely be wear of the contacts, but...the file can
be moved to another storage device. The market is moving to another state
of flux, with a standardized format yet to be chosen (or quite possibly,
yet to be developed). Rest assured, DVD is a great transitional medium,
but it is not the "beat-all-ends-all", due to it's fragility,
and it's inadaptability to real-world scenarios.

The next couple of years is guaranteed to be very interesting in this
market. If you are dealing with materials that are for a classroom
setting, you should be considering a digital delivery of your wares.
"Whirligigs" and spinning formats are well on their way,
similar to 16mm, to that big library archive in the sky.

At Western Washington University's
Wilson Library we have been adding DVDs
to our collection for the last couple of years. Initially we had
hoped to
eventually migrate our VHS collection to DVD - misguidedly believing
that disks would be less vulnerable to damage than VHS tapes. Now
I'm no
longer sure this is reasonable direction.

Our video collection is on open shelves and parts if it, especially
the
feature films, circulate quite heavily. The titles we've accquired
on DVD
have been much more problematic than we had hoped. The big issue
seems to
be the manner in which library users handle (or mishandle??)
them.
Fingerprinting and scratches are epidemic and increasingly users
are
complaining about the frequency with which they are unable to watch
DVDs
checked out from our collection because of this.

After using some over the counter solutions including Disk Doctor
with
moderately reasonable results. In the last several months we've
begun
sending the disks to a business in our region that resurfaces them for
a
few bucks per. They do a great job with very fast turnaround time
but my
main concern is the frustration that the format is causing our
users.

Have any of you given up on DVDs and gone back the accquiring VHS
whenever
there is an option? How are others dealing with these issues?
We have
begun putting a sheet for reporting trouble with a disk in DVD
cases
hoping that users will communicate their problems to us in a more
orderly
and coherent fashion (rather than a ticked off "Doesn't work!"
relayed
through a student employee). But, we've done this for a couple of
years
with our VHS tapes and mostly users don't complete the form when they
do
have trouble.